“Taliff fish, a common but unique species. The male lives its first twenty years of life just to survive and compete. After which it enters a five-year period of breeding. During this season, which is both rare per fish but common in the ocean, the ocean will fill with eggs of the species. Hatching into giant swarms of Taliff fish that separate to compete and grow repeating the cycle.”

- Birds and Beasts from Every Corner, By Teliain Rekkensen.

The crowd dispersed, blue robes trampled gray in a hurry.

Disciples were first in a hurry to get up back the mountain. The servants from other areas next, in a hurry to return and complete their task.

Hao saw little of it, just enough to know he couldn’t find an islander in the crowd. Perhaps their appearances have changed since we arrived.

“Follow me, boy,” Ya said, beginning to walk, his pace showing an eagerness to leave the day behind.

Hao hurried up. It took a while to find his legs. They had a numbness he had never known before.

“They should have opened the mine and been off,” Ya said. Hao listened to his mutter as they walked. The rest of the mutter was impossible to understand.

By the time they reached the mining hall, lines of people were following behind. New people who had assignment change to the mine in the past few days, anticipating the new mine. People who he had passed by every day who had long worked at the mine.

People of different ages, hair, eyes, and skin, none of them looked like him, none of them saw him. Can I see them? Hao reached up and touched his face. He still had eyes.

Senior Ya had to reach back and pull Hao along, dragging him to the infirmary where he rested a few days ago.

Hao got a push, speeding into the room like a rag, like dust.

The room was empty, just the two of them: furniture, medical equipment, and tools of metal that seemed unreal. Dust.

The door slammed behind Ya, who grabbed Hao’s arm, looking at his bruised hand.

“I imagine you came for your assignment and punishment. You came at a bad time.” Ya said.

Glancing Hao up and down, before turning away.

“You took the pill, but you did not run away. It seems you made a flaw in your choice,” Ya said. Pacing and rubbing his chin like there was supposed to be a longer beard there.

Hao stood in silence, watching the man walk in a circle. A single thought came to his mind. Why run? Should I have known that would happen? Hao looked down at his hands, at the bruise Senior Ya was looking at. It was just another one now, at least no one worried about it.

“If they find more Source Stones, most of them will forget about you.” Senior Ya said. Turning to look at Hao, but next time you wish to kill someone, I suggest you hide until you are tall enough to look in their eye.”

Hao flinched, his neck nearly snapping. Kill? Kill? “What is senior talking about?” Hao asked.

“He, you are smarter than most, but you are a fool, it seems. After you looked at him with that face…” Senior Ya shook his head. “Me and other task hall leaders decided your punishment last night. Harsh, but I would accept it or it could be worse.”

“First, I need to ask, do you feel sick at all?” A small squint grew on his face.

Hao shook his head, his face flat. “I feel no worse today than before.”

Ya nodded his head. “What if your cut? How has it healed?”

“It healed…” Hao said. The confusion was blatant on his face.

“Hmm, so it healed your internal injury and bones, and lastly your cut, but you have bruising…”

Senior Ya sighed, rubbing the top of his head. “You can’t trust any alchemist nowadays…”

Was I experimented on? Hao had the thought.

“What’s an alchemist?” Hao felt a sudden urgency to ask. They had something to do with the pill.

“Hmm? Nothing good usually, takers, medicine makers, herb refiners. Far beyond you, as things are.”

Hao stood looking at the man in his frustration. It was the face of the man who he owed his life. I do not know this man, I can not understand. Hao just remained silent.

“Haah. Let get back to your punishment. You will have to double your quota for the same amount of points. If another incident happens around you, it triples. You will have no team, but you will have access to the new mine. Which makes you lucky in a way. But as things are, you have no quarters to sleep in either. The new mines will be easier to collect stones in.”

“Also… if you find any more Source Stones like that one, you should report to me. I may make another trade for pill and the like…” Senior Ya said.

Hao started to reach for the stone.

“Stop, you can not give the one to me. I imagine I won’t be in the sect much longer with the way things are. If you give me that stone, they’ll probably hunt us both down. They will want it in time. Giving to an Elder for backing is your best bet. However, another they don’t know you took…”

Hao was sent away unceremoniously, walking against the crowd that was trying to push into the Mining Hall. He had to go out.

More eyes on him than he could count. He didn’t know any of their thoughts, familiar eyes looking at him with unfamiliarity. I hate this feeling. He did know any of their names, did want to before or now. They felt the same way.

I have to mine double to eat the same. What little I have won’t feed me today.

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Hao didn’t know why Senior Ya wanted the spirit stones. Only that he showed no sadness on his face when talking of the bluestones. Not like the sadness he tried to chase away with his hums while talking about the Source Stone.

Hao began his walk. Gripping his hands over and over. Waving and shaking his legs and head as he walked. Red splatter on the back of the robes. The smell of berries grew stronger the further down the path he got.

As soon as he stepped over the path that was clumping sticky from the jam strained by his bag did he recognize the hunger in his stomach.

They had forgotten each other, the hunger and Hao, confronted with death. Now it was back as he walked the path of dust. Drool tried and succeeded in escaping his lips.

He returned to the mine he knew, the tunnel he knew. There, he found the few things he left. A few food pills and a handful of spirit stones. He placed the white stone, the Source Stone, on the little shelf he left before.

Its light made the tunnel glow. His hunger while in the tunnel was gone from his stomach, but it would not leave his mind.

Kill? He asked himself. Did he want to kill the First Elder? Drool fell to the rubble at his feet as his knees lowered to the tunnel floor. His shins are being stabbed by stones. In the end, would it be the wrong thing to do?

“There is always something you can do if you want to. But never think there are things you have to do because you are forced to.” He could remember his mother’s embrace, her long black hair, and dried, callused hands.

“Don’t forget, you are my blood as well. That makes them even more bothered, as you can do as you see fit, while they fear tradition.” He could remember his father’s hand on his head. Torn by the ocean, and too weak to press down on his head or tousle his hair.

Tun! Tun! Tun! Tun! Tun! Tun! Tun! Tun! Tun!

Hao’s hand, which was healing, palmed the tunnel wall ahead of him.

He fell asleep in the tunnel, able to see the surrounding ocean, keeping him in place, unable to move beyond the water.

The rest of the week passed, Hao’s fourth week away from home.

Rumors spread of events in the mines. Most did not see the event, just heard the voice and felt the wind of it. Good and bad things were said, speculations that were soon forgotten.

As for Hao, a new routine was set, eat, work and practice, and sleep in the tunnel. If he needed to bathe or get fresh air, he would go to the forest. He would get stones from the new mine, then return to the tunnel to practice Water Breaking Fist.

Another Four weeks passed, new people, the start of another cave, the same routine. The more Hao mined, the better he got. He was able to spend less time mining and more practicing.

Old news dissipated, and everyone came to know the reason the mines were the focus of the servants. Hao was forgotten, only the prowess of the elder able to summon storms was remembered.

A new rumor reached Hao’s ear as more people were sent to the mining hall; “No one has ever left the servant’s hall after being there for three months.” Hao ignored such words and continued.

The second moon was reaching the edge of the sky. No Source Stones were found. Senior Ya was showing less interest in Hao. Hao could feel ever mounting pressure. Not all of it was on him, but it was spreading through the Sect as a whole. Summer’s approach was the same for all creatures who could not split mountains.

He practiced even more “Water Breaking Fist”, the more he did the hungrier he got.

Another three months, Hao’s sixth away from the island. The third moon followed the others. Hao grew to fear the rumors. Will I spend the rest of my life here?

Have my parents grown wrinkles? Will the village survive the storm season?

More and more thoughts found their way into his meal times.

Practicing, meditating and striking stones in the tunnel kept invading thoughts at bay. The growing thoughts since the day the Source Stone was found in his bag, with no recent attempts to find more being a success.

“I have to survive!” Hao grunted. While his mind was clear, his thoughts spilled from his mouth, making dust dance.

Bang!

Hao hit the stone of the tunnel with his palm. He no longer used the pick to practice in the tunnel. Many had broken in his hands, no longer needed them to break the stone.

More than that, he wanted the best effect from the technique. The fact he was no longer getting injuries was a second encouragement.

The first was the fire in his belly, the seed of heat that often heated his entire body. Its flame escaped to his flesh whenever he thought of the First Elder. the face he could do nothing to stop his death. I have to kill him if I want to survive. A thought that fueled his fist and feet in the tunnel. I have to be stronger if I ever want to go home, if I want to live to see fall.

There was no longer an escape. New tunnels were dug by people, the elder were not involved. Only floating down when there was a report of Source Stones finding them false. There was no longer any need for them to come down, otherwise, no need to freeze the Servants Halls to use the Artifact.

Bang Bang Bang! Stone dust scattered back at Hao, chips and chunks of brown rock and dust pile on his skin and feet.

He ignored it all, his mind empty while he did the techniques. When he repositioned, his soul aflame sent thoughts to haunt him. First, I have to survive. The forming obsession felt relieved when he attacked the stone.

A great wave moved in his body, crashing against the wall in front of him. The thunderous crashes could by people wandering into the cavern. Hao could no longer care for anyone who listened. Many who saw him in the more popular new mines thought him mad.

Covered in building dust and sweat, stinking, starving a wild mutt, desperate for a meal.

“You should accept the situation. We are stuck here.”

Should I lie down and die then, waiting to be stepped on like mud? Like dust in the path?

Empty; bang, bang bang bang! Another, more, more.

Why don’t you push back at me? He knew the world could, it should, he felt it once before, long ago now. I don’t care if you crush me under this mountain, do so! More, he shot his palm out.

More, he swung, the crashing waves in his body great in each step of the movement. His breath grew with time, pulling more air deeper, colder. Empty: Bang!

Hao froze upon contact, his eye surprised, the world answering his wish. A feeling far worse but far greater than watching his own death. Countless needle shot from his flesh, ice cold and hot. Then they returned, ripping into his body, flowing through him deep beneath his flesh. Flowing in his veins.

His body was still, not moving an inch, overwhelmed.

The greatest pain he had ever felt, yet a refreshing feeling. World Energy that he had not felt since spring just started its approach.

The needle felt as if they dissolved in him. As world energy started, it slowly trickled in. The pace of the flow slowly increased until the pain was gone. Becoming steady, a sensation far greater than the first time he felt it.

It feels warm.

Hao had to laugh. It came out in a burst. “Finally, finally, I’ve done it, Reclamation.” Hao did not know what would come next, but at the moment enjoyed the feeling of world energy that eluded him.

The endless comfort disappeared suddenly. His stomach felt full. A feeling that he had forgotten, but too full, still filling. An ashy taste on the back of his tongue.

He rushed his way out of the tunnel, stumbling on the stone for the first time in weeks.

Barely making it to the entrance, the night sky greeting him, almost no moon light left.

He did have a change to admire it, or even crouch.

It shot out in a constant flow, homogeneous, a black liquid with a yellow shine. Reflective in the tiny bit of light from the last moon.

It continued in large strange like tentacle spill from his nose and mouth. It coalesced, as liquid bits joined with the main mass. Turning to a sloid as it touched the ground.

Finally, by the time he finished, a lump was at his feet, round with a flat bottom far larger than his head.

“Was that the impurity? Did that come out of me?” Hao asked himself.

He took a step back, something else catching his attention. The world energy was weaker again. Identical to the first time, he felt it.